Here are some (mostly import) compilation CDs I’ve been listening to recently that may be worth your time. You’ll probably find several more cheaply at amazon.co.uk, even with international shipping. (Man, the Brits get all the best comps.)
– Come to the Sunshine, a smile-inducing collection of early ’70s psychedelic soft rock rarities.
– Somewhat related: Meridian 1970, a compilation of mellow sounds from the titular year.
– Love’s a Real Thing, a terrific Luaka Bop-issued bunch of West African soul numbers from the same era. (An era with which I’ve been musically obsessed lately.)
– The Now Sound Redesigned, a remix album of songs by The Free Design, a cotton-candy-sweet family act from the late ’60s that had some amazing harmonies and a great square-jawed groove. They went nowhere commercially the first time around, but (a la the David Axelrod records I posted about last week) they’ve been reclaimed by the cratediggers. This CD features remixes by members of Belle & Sebastian and Stereolab, Caribou, Danger Mouse, and a host of Stones Throw types like Koushik, Dudley Perkins, Peanut Butter Wolf, and Madlib.
– Le Beat Bespoke, maybe the best of the bunch. It’s a comp inspired by the mod revivalist movement in the U.K., which attempts to bring back the swinging-London vibe of the first few Who albums, with a smidge of northern soul. Lots of freakbeat and blue-eyed soul, but with a little more variety than you might imagine. Highly danceable.
– Gilles Peterson Digs America, Gilles Peterson in Brazil, and Gilles Peterson in Africa, three wonderful compilations by the terrific BBC DJ. (I’ll let you guess his name.) Peterson has terrific taste, the sort of catholic taste I aspire to. This isn’t Starbucks world music: This has groove, a sort of global funk/soul melange that I can assure will make you happy. (The America CD is a bunch of rare early ’70s R&B.)
– Sounds of Monsterism Island, a slightly weirder variant on the same period, focusing more of exotic sounds and general strangeness (“A Child’s Guide To Good And Evil” by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, for instance, and a track by crabwalk.com Official Strange Dude Eden Ahbez). Plus some more contemporary stuff like Dead Meadow.
– The “Girls in the Garage” compilations, all of which feature rare girl-group tracks from the 1960s. These aren’t the doo-wop bands of Motown; these are mostly suburban girls with guitars, amateurish in the best sense, playing with a mix of innocence, toughness, and naive ambition. No link to Amazon because these are clearly illegal bootlegs, issued only on vinyl and impossible to find. The track listings are haphazard, but the variety’s terrific — there are multiple albums in the series of just French go-go groups, and one (Vol. 9) of Singapore female-fronted hotel bands of the 1960s. As I said, you won’t find this in stores, but — while I would never be one to advocate the unauthorized download of music — you might find something of interest here.